As Mr. CHRISTIE, in his Dryden, well observes: 'The importance of corrections of this sort will not be judged by the smallness of the change for the worse introduced by carelessness or design' (Pref. p. xii.). A few out of many examples may interest here, although their full importance can only be arrived at by an examination of them in their text and context. Taking Pickering's exquisite edition typographically of 1835, and others later, the following are noticeable; Yeowell's, as really careful, is also in some instances chosen :

1. The Printers to the Reader: 'No man can more ambitiously seek than he did earnestly endeavour the resignation of an ecclesiastical dignitie, which he was possessour of;' misprinted 'professor :' Bell and Daldy (= Yeowell, 1865, &c.). Willmott and Clarke have strangely omitted the whole of this admirable Epistle, written by Nicholas Ferrar.

2. Ibid. And these are but 'a few :' 'a' dropped out. 3. The Church Porch, st. vi. 1. 5, 'devest:' mis-spelled divest ;' see Note in loco. So in 83. Vanitie, l. 15; and

Yeowell, &c.

4. Ibid. st. xiii. 1. 3, 'Cowards tell her:' Willmott misprints' tells.'

5. Ibid. st. xxiv. 1. 5, Loose not thyself:' Pickering, Yeowell, and all, misprint ' Lose,' to the losing of the sense; see Note in loco.

6. Ibid. st. xxx. 1. 5, 'makes his cloth too wide :' Pickering, Yeowell, and all, misprint' clothes.'

7. Ibid. st. lxx. 1. 2, ‘send them to thine heart:' ibid. 'thy,' an abounding 'improvement' in all.

8. Ibid. st. lxxi. 1. 6, ' are either:' 'improved' to 'either are' in all.

9. 2. The Sacrifice, 1. 110, 'usèd and wished:' misprinted by all 'wish'd,' which spoils the line.

10. Ibid. 1. 234, 'Yet by my subjects am condemn'd to die' misprinted 'I'm' by Yeowell and Clarke also.

11. 3. The Thanksgiving, 1. 34, But mend mine own :' misprinted my;' a frequent improvement,' ibid.

12. Ibid. line 41, 'that all together may accord :' misprinted 'altogether,' which makes nonsense; so Yeowell.

13. 6. The Sinner, l. 12, 'thine :' again 'thy,' and so frequently 'e'en' for 'ev'n.'

14. 10. Easter, The Song, line 1, ' straw Thy way :' misprinted 'strew;' so Yeowell and Clarke.

15. 12. Holy Baptisme, 1. 5, spring and rent:' misprinted 'vent;' so Yeowell.

16. 16. Affliction, 1. 21, 'straw'd :' misprinted 'strew'd ;' so Clarke and Yeowell.

17. Ibid. 1. 25,' begun :' misprinted 'began ;' see Note in loco, ibid.

18. Ibid. 1. 26, 'cleave:' misprinted 'clave;' wrong, as the present tense follows; so Yeowell.

19. 17. Repentance, 1. 3, 'momentanie:' misprinted 'momentarie;' see Note in loco; so Yeowell and Clarke.

20. 18. Faith, 1. 26, 'gainèd :' misprinted 'gain'd,' which spoils the line; so Yeowell.

21. 22. Love, 1. 24, 'Thy goods :' Willmott misprints 'gods.'

22. 33. Sinne, 1. 10, 'sinnes in perspective :' misprinted 'prospective ;' so Yeowell, Willmott, Clarke, &c.

23. 35. Church-Monuments, 1. 7, this school:' misprinted or improved' to 'the,' which weakens the sense. 24. 45. Constancie, 1. 22, 'tentations :' misspelled 'temptations;' so Yeowell and Clarke.

25. 48. Sunday, 1. 11, 'worky-days:' misprinted 'working-days' by Clarke, &c.

26. 49. Avarice, 1. 7, 'wert:' misprinted 'wast;' so Yeowell and Clarke.

27. 52. Employment, 1. 25, 'dressèd:' misprinted 'dresseth,' ibid.

28. 53. Deniall, 1. 8, ' pleasures:' misprinted 'pleasure.'

29. 57. The World, 1. 14, sommers,' Fr. sommier= beams misprinted 'summers;' so Yeowell and Clarke. 30. 90. Providence, l. 136, non-sense :' misprinted and makes nonsense,' ibid.

6

31. Ibid. 1. 146, 'advise :' misprinted' advice,' ibid. 32. 97. Giddiness, l. 15, 'it's :' misprinted ''tis,' ibid. 33. 105. Eph. iv. 30, ll. 4, 5, 'grievèd, griev'd:' misprinted both 'grieved,' although the metre requires griev'd' in l. 5, ibid.

34. 106. The Familie, 1. 10, 'plaies,' qy.-' plies:' misprinted' plays,' ibid.

35. 111. The Pilgrimage, 1. 14, 'wold' misprinted 'world,' which is neither sense nor rhyme; see Note in loco.

36. 129. The Search, 1. 21, 'I tun'd' misprinted absurdly 'turn'd;' so Yeowell and Clarke.

37. On Lord Danvers, Vol. II. p. 47, l. 6, ‘the:' misprinted 'thy,' ibid.

38. The Church Militant, Vol. II. p. 5, 1. 55, 'ChristCrosse:' misprinted 'Christ's-Cross ;' see Note in loco, ibid.

The Greek and Latin have been hitherto most slovenly given; perhaps ours will be found accurate, as well in the previously published as in the new from MSS. The Prose of Herbert would furnish an equally long list of misprints and improvements. I limit myself now to the Jacula Prudentum, and I take Yeowell's text (Bell and Daldy, 1865), with this result on collation of the 1640 and 1651 editions, apart from misspellings: 'shoulders' for 'shoulder,' 'drowning' for 'a-drowning,' 'comes' for 'come,' 'heavens' for 'havens,' 'deaths' for 'dearths,' 'weight' for weigh,''payer' for 'prayer,' 'loved' for 'beloved, light' for 'night,' 'brambles' for 'brables,' 'mouth,' for ' month,' &c.

เ

These are a mere handful, put down currente calamo as I send away the proof-sheets collated with my revised text. In Notes and Illustrations there are others fully and

critically discussed. The whole of these errors and corruptions have been anxiously rectified and purified in this edition. In so doing I have had constantly before me all the editions of the Verse from the first, 1632-3, to the thirteenth, 1709, as well as after ones until now; and similarly with the Prose.

II. For the first time are recorded in the Notes and Illustrations the many Various Readings (a) from MSS., (b) original and early editions; most of the rarest literary and biographic value.

III. For the first time there is furnished anything like a critical and exegetical commentary, in Notes and Illustrations, on all calling for elucidation. Herbert's reading was as odd and discursive as ever was Robert Burton's, and its application as allusive and unexpected as Thomas Fuller's; and there are subtleties and obscurities -shadows broaden by the measure of light from whence they are objected-of thinking and construction and wording, as well as quaint notices of now-forgotten manners customs, and usages, that claim record and explanation. Hitherto all, or nearly all, have been left as though readers were still contemporaries. A more meagre and inadequate, not to say discreditable, annotation than that thus far bestowed on HERBERT is scarcely predicable of any other classic. I may be excused stating that I have not spared myself or willing fellow-workers any toil of search and research, or prolonged and deliberate study, in order worthily to furnish this body of Notes and Illustrations. No real difficulty has been consciously shirked; and I

1 It is remarkable how self-evident misprints escape even keen eyes -e.g. how strange that in 64. 'Man,' line 8, it should have been left to me to discover the long-continued error of 'no' for 'mo' more. 1632-3 originated the blunder; the Williams Ms. enabled me authoritatively to correct it. So in the Parodox, line 39, 'plaint our case' (in Vol. II.), from Dr. Bliss onwards, the мs. contraction 'or' our has been misprinted 'or,' which makes nonsense. Errors of this type abound.

VOL. I.

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venture to hope that readers will not consult these Notes without obtaining help in their understanding (or misunderstanding) of the text.

IV. For the first time relatively large additions are given, from (a) mss., (b) overlooked books (e.g. six English sacred poems, and nearly the whole of Passio Discerpta and Lucus, from the Williams Ms., the 'Psalms,' from Playford (one first reprinted by Farr), and other single poems; so also in the Prose. Including the Translations, there is fully a third of absolute addition, in quality equal to the best hitherto printed, with slight exceptions.

v. For the first time the Latin and Greek verse and the Latin prose are translated, including the Latin first printed by us from the MSS. As already remarked, beautiful editions typographically have only made the more offensive the unscholarly misprints of Greek and Latin-e.g. Pickering's and Willmott's, &c.

VI. For the first time, in the Memorial-Introduction, various new outward facts will be found-e. g. his ancestry; his education, dates and circumstances; his supposed 'deaconship' shown to have been a probable error; his 'sinecure office' once held by Sir Philip Sydney; his marriage entry, &c.; his will, and other points. In Vol. III. I carefully reprint Izaak Walton's 'Life' of HERBERT, with considerable additions, elucidatory and corrective; but it had been mere editorial laziness to have contented myself therewith. It is one of those books that must live; yet for facts and dates, none who follow 'meek Izaak' can trust him. I name this with the profoundest veneration for his winsome memory. Hence our Memorial-Introduction. Perhaps our Essay on the Life and Writings will be found of use to some students, as interpreting inward significances.

VII. For the first time (in our quarto) the original Portrait of HERBERT, as first given in the edition of The